# Mudding a Pipe - Tutorial w/ pics



## PinkFloydFan (Oct 1, 2009)

Good Afternoon Folks.

Well, I couldn't help but notice a new display of MM Cobs and Ozarks had just been put up in one of the local smoke shops I stop in now and then..

Like most of us, another pipe on the rack never hurts.. So I decided to pick one of the nicer looking dark Ozarks off the cardboard and take it home to add to the collection.

I happen to like the other Ozark I have , It is the lighter colored one with the straight stem and it smokes like a charm. So I have a feeling this one will work out the same.

The first thing you notice when you buy most of these MM pipes is the way the stem and bowl are assembled and put together.

Sometimes they ain't pretty and there can be quite a few gaps and areas where the inside of the bowl and stem do not touch.

IMHO, This is nothing a little honey and ash mud putty can't fix. I think it probably prolongs the life of the pipe as well as provide a nice surface for a good carbon cake to cling to.. Not to mention the carbon in the ash acting as a good insulator to keep your pipe a bit cooler.

I know alot of folks consider these types of pipes "disposable" of sort.. and they are.. But why not make the best of what you have dropped a few bucks on with a few minutes work , and maybe turn a relatively cheap pipe into something you can enjoy for a while at the same time minimizing the potential of burning out a bottom or smoking the wood your pipe is made from , instead of the tobacco you have loaded it with.

I took alot of pics of the entire process and hope someone can find use of the info here 

Here is what you will need:

1) Your pipe.
2) A decent collection of tobacco ash ( cigar and pipe seem to have a little more meat and bodyto them then cigarette ash.. So that is what I have collected in a can) 
3) Honey ( I know there are alot of different types out there.. This is just what I robbed from my pantry.. It has a nice little dropper built in the lid. But I would think any type would do..) 
4) A working surface that you can toss when done. ( A few sheets of printer paper is used here.) 
5) A Few wooden matches , or something you can mix your putty with.
6) A few Q-tips or anything like it.
7) A few pipe cleaners.
8.) Your 3 way pipe tool or a small spoon.
9) A few napkins or paper towels to clean your fingers as needed. 
10) And a little bit of PATIENCE.. ( Remember to have fun and *relax*... That is what we all want from our pipes...)

Here is the new pipe and a few close-ups of the stem and bowl insertion gaps and spots we will be filling in with our mud putty, as well as the smooth insides of the bowl walls which we will be giving some texture too as well.










Here are my supplies. 
I have dumped a little mound of ash on the lid of a can and used a finger to create a small crator to hold my drops of honey. I was careful not to push this crator all the way down to bare metal. I want to drop the honey on top of some ash so it doesnt stick to the metal. and then have some ash on around the crator to "fold in" of sorts.










Just 2 or 3 drops in the middle.. start mixing and pressing the ash into the glob. It will be sticky at first and then start to firm up a bit as the ash draws the miosture from the honey.










A little more mixing and working the ash into our honey glob. With the right amounts of each you can get it to a nice workable consistancy.. I would add more of either depending on how big my glob is, how wet or how dry.










Seems like a need a little more honey. and I might as well dump a little on the paper to coat the inside of the bowl with.










I shoved a folded PC down the stem and used my Q-tip to coat the inside of every surface in the bowl. The PC keeps material out of the stem as you will see later.










I have rolled my putty into small turd shaped pieces , I found it easier to jam these into the side gaps along the shank edges then just round pieces.

I placed one piece in and pushed it into position, and kept doing so until every gap was filled and I was almost level with the shank /stem end... But not covering it. I would twist the PC I inserted once in a while to make sure everything stayed open.










Next, I took some of the finer ash and spooned a bit in on top pf my putty. I added enough to make sure that during the next step.. everything would get coated with it.










The ash is in and its time to shake and tap the ash around.. So it sticks to the honey on the walls of the bowl and whatever moisture is still shining on my putty work. Leave the PC in place during this part.










A have a little piece of putty left. Everything seems to be coated and pressed into place nicely.. Time to remove the PC and do a Lumen patency check under the lightbulb.










A few pics of the finished product.. a few taps on my palm to get rid of any loose ash pieces / dust , a nice blow through the stem to get anyhting out of it and I will let it sit overnight.










The next day I used some good old Carter Hall to pack my first bowl. 
Not too tight.. But fill her up.. and smoke her down.

No tools in for poking yet.. After your down to your ash.. Just tap it out and whatver has stayed stuck to the bottom of the bowl, Just tamp in with your Czech tool.

Let it cool , and repeat...

One or 2 more bowl fulls and you are GOOD TO GO.

I hope you enjoyed this little babble about how I do this stuff. It has worked for me. and I hope it does the same for you.

Got a question? I'll be happy to answer the best I can.

Enjoy your pipe, No matter what you paid for it. 
and have fun with your project as you put a finishing touch on your new MM ( whatever you like .. Cobb. Ozark. )

Special Thanks to Mister Moo for bringing this topic up a week or so ago and his mud photo work on his new JH Cobb.. ( Looked great Moo !! )

Peace and God Bless.

Vin.


----------



## Jenady (Nov 23, 2009)

Thanks Vin. This is very well done and extremely helpful. :thumb:


----------



## Mr.Lordi (May 20, 2007)

+RG for the well done thread. I may try this with one of those cheap pipes, as well. I've heard of people using this method with good briar, though. I don't know if I would go that far, but for a cheap pipe, sounds good to me. 
:thumb:


----------



## Bermac (Feb 9, 2009)

Great Job. I have 3 cobs that smoke great and would like to keep them around.


----------



## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

I wish I could give you a bump Vin, fantastically-informative thread.


----------



## thebayratt (Jun 4, 2009)

commonsenseman said:


> I wish I could give you a bump Vin, fantastically-informative thread.


Taken care of!

I don't know but about 4cents of pipe smoking... This is so simple to understand! I think I'm going to look into a inexpensive pipe, read up on them, and see what happens.

Great Job on this how-to Vin!!
Bump for you!


----------



## commonsenseman (Apr 18, 2008)

thebayratt said:


> Taken care of!
> 
> I don't know but about 4cents of pipe smoking... This is so simple to understand! I think I'm going to look into a inexpensive pipe, read up on them, and see what happens.
> 
> ...


That's a great way to start! Get a cob, some drug store tobacco (Prince Albert, Carter Hall, Velvet, Half & Half, etc), & a pipe tamper (or even just a roofing nail). Then puff away!

If you like it, maybe you'll even want to join the Newbie Sampler Trade, a great way to try a bunch of different tobaccos for cheap.


----------



## SmoknTaz (Jun 18, 2008)

commonsenseman said:


> I wish I could give you a bump Vin, fantastically-informative thread.





thebayratt said:


> Taken care of!
> 
> I don't know but about 4cents of pipe smoking... This is so simple to understand! I think I'm going to look into a inexpensive pipe, read up on them, and see what happens.
> 
> ...


+1

Nice tutorial Vin. I have anther Country Gentlemen coming in the mail. I will try this when I get it. :tu


----------



## Jogi (Dec 4, 2009)

Thank you sir. This is just what I needed for my General and Washington :dance:, they have noticeable gaps around the stem-and-bowl junction...

One question though, the stem in my Washington is also *twisted to the right*, ie. unlike the air-hole of your pipe "facing" upwards in the 2nd-4th pics, the air-hole in mine is twisted into facing, let's say, the 2 o'clock position (while looking from the stem side). Does this pose a problem in smoking and if so, can it be fixed by mudding? I hope I have explained the problem correctly, pics would've been much better but not possible right now...


----------



## NonNobis (May 25, 2010)

Jogi said:


> One question though, the stem in my Washington is also *twisted to the right*, ie. unlike the air-hole of your pipe "facing" upwards in the 2nd-4th pics, the air-hole in mine is twisted into facing, let's say, the 2 o'clock position (while looking from the stem side


I was just going to ask that myself, Jogi. I have the same situation and was wondering also.


----------



## PinkFloydFan (Oct 1, 2009)

Jogi said:


> Thank you sir. This is just what I needed for my General and Washington :dance:, they have noticeable gaps around the stem-and-bowl junction...
> 
> One question though, the stem in my Washington is also *twisted to the right*, ie. unlike the air-hole of your pipe "facing" upwards in the 2nd-4th pics, the air-hole in mine is twisted into facing, let's say, the 2 o'clock position (while looking from the stem side). Does this pose a problem in smoking and if so, can it be fixed by mudding? I hope I have explained the problem correctly, pics would've been much better but not possible right now...





NonNobis said:


> I was just going to ask that myself, Jogi. I have the same situation and was wondering also.


Thank you all for the positive vibes.. I feel the love 
And I am glad it could be of assistance to some of you brothers here. 

To answer the ?'s in quotes...

Not sure if the direction of the air hole is critical.. I would asssume the draw would be the same and the conceivable potential problem could be you wind up buring the wood on the bevel of the stem. I certainly would not try to twist it into proper alignment .. That may result in a stem fracture, a cracked glue line and a trashed pipe.

I have always looked at the bottom of the pipes to see which seems to be lining up the best and picked my cherry off the board. I know if you ordered them online, that wouldn't be possible. 
I would just mud all around leaving the doubled up PC in place ( so your hole stays open) until everything is good and dry.

After your first few smokes, The heated and burned sugars in the honey will cause the putty to turn to almost an ash cement. IMO, Just place and shape it however you want your bowl and stem to look and don't poke around too much until you have a cold pipe and feel the stuff has gotten real hard to the touch..

You got nothing to lose 

Good Luck 

Vin


----------



## Jogi (Dec 4, 2009)

Thanks once again sir. Let's see how things go...


----------



## PS27 (Sep 19, 2010)

Very helpful. I just bought an MM Country Gentleman and after taking the price sticker off the bottom, I examined the inside again and noticed it had a small hole in the inside bottom which the MM sticker still covered up. Torn between returning it and fixing it, I was leaning toward returning. But seeing this method, I think a fix would work. Choosing to enjoy the opportunity to learn and do something rather than being put out a MM +$5 pipe came damaged. Having to do this may get me doing others as well, though I've not seen a huge need for it in the past.

Just wanted to ask, is it still holding up well on this pipe? As well as the others treated?


----------



## slyder (Mar 17, 2009)

Great post! I have several old pipes that are getting a little "deep" that im gonna try this on.


----------



## cp478 (Oct 23, 2008)

Good tutorial!
Thank you!


----------



## Diodon nepheligina (Nov 5, 2009)

I mudded in a couple of cobs with cigar ash and water. Results were good but fleeting. After a couple months, I was right back where I started. I need to do this again using honey as the binding agent. Thanks for the great pictorial lesson, Vin!


----------



## GlassEye (Oct 25, 2009)

I did this to my MM Great Dane with great results. The chamber is now shaped like any briar would be, and it smokes better, I think. You really do want to let the mud dry as long as possible, I tried to smoke mine after about 36 hours drying and it tasted very foul. I then let it sit for over a week and it is now great.
Thanks for the tutorial.:tu


----------



## Hendu3270 (Jan 23, 2009)

Very nice write up Vin. Job weel done :thumb:


----------



## FLIPFLOPS_AND_SHADES (Nov 25, 2010)

Thank you for this thread. I am going to mud my General as soon as I can build up enough ash. Gonna have to smoke a lot more!!!:couch2:


----------



## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

I'll bump this for cause. I tried "fixing" a lousy Peterson Flame Grain full bent that I've had for over 30 years a couple of months ago, using pipe mud. The draught hole is drilled ridiculously high (I'd find it hard to think positively about a Peterson ever again, given that this piece of crap made it out the door as a first run pipe). I used pipe mud to fill the bottom of the bowl and it made the pipe smokable for the first time ever -- then the mud fell out in a little glob with the ashes not long ago. Reading your EXCELLENT tutorial, the penny fell -- coat the bottom with honey first! (And do a better job of mixing the mud, you lazy idiot.) This one seems to be far superior to my first attempt and I have every hope to at last be able to smoke what until now has been the biggest dud of a pipe I ever bought.

Thank you!!


----------



## owaindav (Mar 7, 2010)

Reviving this thread as I just mudded the bottom of a Peterson Killarney 3/4 bent that had the draught hole drilled too high. This was my second pipe I ever bought so I figured I'd give this a shot and see if the pipe smokes down to the bottom of the bowl.

Basically, I mixed it up and pushed it down into the bottom of the pipe with a pipe cleaner in the stem. Kind of eased it up the sides as well to kind of blend it so it wasn't so noticable. Almost looks like the way my Neerups are drilled now. Takes about a quarter inch of depth out of the bowl but I think that will be fine.

I'm wondering if letting it dry overnight is enough? Maybe 36 hours? Or is it important to start hardening the sugars in the honey sooner than that?

Anyone have experience that would answer those questions?


----------



## Exille (Mar 7, 2011)

So i mudded a MM Cob a couple weeks ago and forgot about it in the back of my desk's "smoking drawer" the mud is still somewhat slightly soft and sticky still....should i just say screw it smoke it or did i do it wrong? used pipe/cigar ash and honey...


----------



## Stonedog (Mar 9, 2011)

Exille said:


> So i mudded a MM Cob a couple weeks ago and forgot about it in the back of my desk's "smoking drawer" the mud is still somewhat slightly soft and sticky still....should i just say screw it smoke it or did i do it wrong? used pipe/cigar ash and honey...


With respect to the OP, I've not had success with honey-mud. The honey causes the mud to remain moist and sticky for weeks, if not months, after it is applied. I tried everything to get it to dry out (I baked it, smoked it, set it in the sun, etc).

A few weeks ago I carefully removed the honey-mud and replaced it with cigar ash mixed with a drop of water (almost putty consistency, just like the honey-mud). It dried within a day and has been solid and dry for a few weeks now with no problems whatsoever.


----------



## quo155 (Aug 10, 2010)

Very interesting...may try the water/ash method on my new MM cob...as there is a lot of space down there...


----------



## Nick S. (Jul 10, 2011)

I also have used water and ash in place of the honey/ash method, and it has worked well.


----------



## Xodar (Mar 4, 2011)

What a great thread. I have been contemplating mudding several of my MM's, and this pretty much answers all the questions I had, thank you.


----------



## Swany (Aug 20, 2010)

Muwhahahhahahaha.

Subscribing so I can do this to my cobs when I am sober. LOL


----------



## Thirston (Feb 2, 2011)

Yeah, I've been meaning to try this for some time too. Thanks for taking the time to do the tutorial!... very cool.


----------



## NoShhhSherlock (Mar 30, 2011)

Great guide Vin!


----------

